One of the biggest disappointments with the Galaxy S26 and Galaxy S26+ is that they feature the same rear camera hardware as their predecessors, the Galaxy S25 and Galaxy S25+. If it’s any consolation, Samsung appears to be getting more out of the existing hardware through software improvements.

On the Galaxy S25 and Galaxy S25+, the Portrait mode offered three focal length (zoom) options: 1x, 2x, and 3x. For 1x and 2x options, the phones used the primary camera (for 2x zoom, they cropped into the primary sensor), while the 3x setting relied on the telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom.

The Galaxy S26 and Galaxy S26+ take things a step further. The Portrait mode on these phones also offers a 5x focal length (zoom) option. To achieve this, the devices use the 3x telephoto camera and crop into the sensor to reach the 5x zoom level (via Daniel Scuteri).

With this Portrait mode offering the 5x zoom option, users can capture images with the subject appearing closer. These photos have a narrower field of view, which helps focus more on the subject and shows less of the surrounding area compared to lower zoom levels.